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- Julia Cabanas
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Sunday, May 6, 2018
A Simple Reflection
My first year of college is coming to an end and I couldn't be happier. This year has been filled with new and exciting opportunities. On the first day of English 102 I realized that it wasn't going to be just an ordinary class but, that it turned out to be something unique and precious. Professor Brady is an extraordinary teacher of literature who goes the extra mile. She turns learning into an experience of entertainment that would be a shame to miss out on. Throughout the year she challenged our thoughts and skills for writing by assigning written projects, published written assignments, lectures, and fishbowls (her term for Socratic seminars). Most importantly; she taught plays, short stories and poems that were written long before I was born and applied them to present day also, relating them to real life experiences.
This semester has marked the beginning of my persona. I am able to have a deep connection with the literature that is taught in the classroom. Also, I can relate it to experiences that develop around me. This class was not an easy task and as Tom Hanks said "If it wasn't hard, everyone would be doing it. It's the hard that makes it great." This quote sums up the class to me. I would find myself stressing about the amount of work I had to do but, in the end the final product always reflected the amount of effort I put into it. I am proud of my work and know that I always have room to improve.
The class has taught me to fall in love with writing again and made me realize that I missed it. I was able to express my thoughts and relate to literature in a way I never thought was possible. Now that it is coming to an end, I will miss the lectures and fishbowls however the knowledge and experience I have gained by taking this class will ultimately follow me throughout my entire career. Even though, this class is about literature it helped me expand my knowledge on my major, psychology. I also was able to tie what I learned in this class into other classes such as public speaking and anthropology. Professor Brady has taught me to be proud of literature and express my ideas to others. I am incredibly grateful to have a professor that clearly loves her job and passes on her passion to others in a significant way as she has done for me.
Favorite Lectures
Created Desires as a Substitute for Inherent Desires
03-08-18
Upon reading "A Streetcar Named Desires" by Tennessee Williams, Professor Brady gave a lecture about desire. I learned that there are two types of desire, inherent and created. Inherent desire is what we need while created desire is what we want. Created desire involves physical things such as status marriage, money, education, fame and more. Inherent desire involves things we need to survive such as water, food, oxygen, and shelter. There are also examples of inherent desire that are not as obvious such as love, companionship, knowledge, acceptance and freedom. In the story with Blanche and today, people rely on created desires to fill in the missing pieces of their inherent desires. Blanche focused on status, marriage and materialistic things like jewelry to keep the truth hidden. She used those created desires as a substitute for love, acceptance and self worth which are the pieces of inherent desires that she was missing from her life. To live a meaningful and happy life is to have more inherent and less created desires, because in the end the created desires vanish and all that remains are inherent desires.
Upon reading "A Streetcar Named Desires" by Tennessee Williams, Professor Brady gave a lecture about desire. I learned that there are two types of desire, inherent and created. Inherent desire is what we need while created desire is what we want. Created desire involves physical things such as status marriage, money, education, fame and more. Inherent desire involves things we need to survive such as water, food, oxygen, and shelter. There are also examples of inherent desire that are not as obvious such as love, companionship, knowledge, acceptance and freedom. In the story with Blanche and today, people rely on created desires to fill in the missing pieces of their inherent desires. Blanche focused on status, marriage and materialistic things like jewelry to keep the truth hidden. She used those created desires as a substitute for love, acceptance and self worth which are the pieces of inherent desires that she was missing from her life. To live a meaningful and happy life is to have more inherent and less created desires, because in the end the created desires vanish and all that remains are inherent desires.
Life That Gets in the Way of Living
04-24-18
We had class outside which switched the stuffy classroom atmosphere to a delightful and energized environment. We had a fishbowl discussion on a short story, "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri. We discussed how idealism and failure is a theme in the story. Idealism is a concept that focuses around perfection and presses that imperfection is pervasive. The concept is false because the human condition is flawed and imperfect. Someone who believes in idealism such as Ms. Das in the story, when reality comes crashing down, you became unhappy. We revealed that failure directly corresponds with expectations. When expectations are too high we consume our lives with trying to reach that expectation but, it ultimately ends in failure. We live our lives in a way that gets in the way of living because of trying to reach an expectation that can never be reached.
We had class outside which switched the stuffy classroom atmosphere to a delightful and energized environment. We had a fishbowl discussion on a short story, "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri. We discussed how idealism and failure is a theme in the story. Idealism is a concept that focuses around perfection and presses that imperfection is pervasive. The concept is false because the human condition is flawed and imperfect. Someone who believes in idealism such as Ms. Das in the story, when reality comes crashing down, you became unhappy. We revealed that failure directly corresponds with expectations. When expectations are too high we consume our lives with trying to reach that expectation but, it ultimately ends in failure. We live our lives in a way that gets in the way of living because of trying to reach an expectation that can never be reached.
Love is Healing, Meaningful and Open.
05-03-18
The title of this work is what I wrote on a small piece of paper for a fishbowl discussion that took place on a spring afternoon on room 233. Each classmate had to describe love by choosing three of the following; a phrase, a sentence or three adjectives. I chose three adjectives; healing, meaningful and open. Each student handed over a small piece of paper like my own to Professor Brady. She then read aloud each of our notes into a form of a poem. This surprised me because I am not a fan of poetry but watching her read our notes showed me how easy it can be to write a poem and understand poetry. Through this exercise, I realized how scholarly my classmates are and it was interesting to see all of out different ideas combine together into one piece. I realized that poetry is meant to be felt with every nerve in your body rather than just simply read.
The title of this work is what I wrote on a small piece of paper for a fishbowl discussion that took place on a spring afternoon on room 233. Each classmate had to describe love by choosing three of the following; a phrase, a sentence or three adjectives. I chose three adjectives; healing, meaningful and open. Each student handed over a small piece of paper like my own to Professor Brady. She then read aloud each of our notes into a form of a poem. This surprised me because I am not a fan of poetry but watching her read our notes showed me how easy it can be to write a poem and understand poetry. Through this exercise, I realized how scholarly my classmates are and it was interesting to see all of out different ideas combine together into one piece. I realized that poetry is meant to be felt with every nerve in your body rather than just simply read.
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